Additional Information
For the Semaine du Neuf, the Quatuor Bozzini celebrates 25 years of professional activity in the service of creative music, with creations by three exceptional composers: Michael Oesterle, Linda Catlin Smith and Martin Arnold. For this very special occasion, PAN M 360 is publishing two interviews with the members of this excellent Montreal quartet: Alissa Cheung, violin, Clemens Merkel, violin, Stéphanie Bozzini, viola, Isabelle Bozzini, cello. First, let’s talk about the concert this Friday, March 14, 7:30 p.m., at the Music Media Room.
PAN M 360: Why these three composers in such a commemoration?
Isabelle Bozzini: L’Effusione d’amicizia is one of the flagship projects of our quarter-century, commissioned from composers who have been with us since the beginning: Michael Oesterle, Martin Arnold and Linda Smith. These exceptional creators have long done us the honor of following and appreciating our work. Full disclosure: all these artists know and appreciate each other, and they were once mentors at our Composer’s Kitchen or BozziniLab, so there’s a lot of effusiveness!
PAN M 360: Tell us about 3-Way Cotillion, a sextet by Martin Arnold, in which we find the composer’s fascination with early music, folk traditions and the influence of psychedelic music. Can we find out more about the work?
Stéphanie Bozzini: 3-Way Cotillion is based on simple materials and structures. The sextet opens with a long melody from the two violas, supported by “cushion” chords and pizzicato punctuations from the other instruments. Its title refers to a dance, which is quite characteristic of Martin’s works: undulating, humble melodies, never extravagant, sometimes slow, but also dotted motifs that punctuate the phrases as cadences. A reminiscence of melodic motifs recurs throughout the piece.
Clemens Merkel: The composer always leaves a lot of decisions and freedom to the performers in terms of articulations, nuances and even characters, which gives his works a great playground for us.
Isabelle Bozzini: Martin is a pure music lover with an exceptional and extremely eclectic record collection. He has a reverence for Renaissance music, he grew up with the folk tradition in Alberta and lived through his psychedelic period. To fully understand all his influences, I think you need to go and hear him in a bar with one of his bands in Toronto.
PAN M 360: How did you integrate cellist Audréanne Filion and violist Élisa Trudel?
Isabelle Bozzini: Violist Élisa Trudel and cellist Audréanne Filion are two up-and-coming musicians. They share a sound and aesthetic affinity, and have a real curiosity for new music. That’s why we turned to them. Audréanne is active in the musique actuelle scene, among others, and has already played with us in 2023 at Québec Musiques Parallèles for Jürg Frey.
Stéphanie Bozzini: We’ve met Elisa regularly at various concerts in Montreal and Rimouski, and it’s inspiring to see the younger generation of performers taking an interest in new music. And it’s great to have them with us for this concert!
PAN M 360: Michael Oesterle, with whom you first met at the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne Forum in 1996, is the initiator of a long collaboration with the ensemble, which will present his Quartet No. 4, the fifth work written for Bozzini. Is there any connection with the previous works you’ve played with the quartet over the years? How is the work constructed, and what is at stake in its performance?
Stéphanie Bozzini: It’s a long one-movement piece, divided into a few sections, so it contrasts with Quartet No.3 “Alan Turing”, which is in 4 distinct movements, or other of his quartets that are short in form. Quartet No.4 begins and ends with a chorale reminiscent of the great classical tradition, echoed in harmonics at the center of the piece. Michael constructs his works by alternating expressive geometric musical materials. With very simple means, he creates a whole fresco of original, playful and expressive sounds.
Isabelle Bozzini: Despite the technical difficulties of the piece, her intimate knowledge of the language for strings makes the performance accessible: for example, rapid harmonic strokes that are idiomatic for strings. Of course, we love the challenge of technically complex works, for the challenge, the pleasure of learning, the desire to push oneself and the fluidity of playing.
Stéphanie Bozzini: But at the same time, it’s satisfying for us not to have to “get bogged down in the flowers of the carpet”, as we sometimes say to each other in rehearsals, so that we can devote ourselves to other aspects of the music that are more important to us: expression, dynamics, flow and balance.
PAN M 360: Toronto’s Linda Catlin Smith created the piece Rêverie especially for the occasion. What are the characteristics of this work? What’s at stake in the performance?
Alissa Cheung: We’ve played almost all of Linda’s string quartets, and we’re delighted to finally have a commission written especially for us. We can recognize elements of her earlier quartets, phrases and orchestration that remind us of Gondola or Folkestone, but this piece is unique in the evolution of Linda’s string quartet writing. The work is made up of numerous homogeneous sections that flow from one to the next, and features Linda’s characteristic contrasts between light and dark, in terms of harmonic, orchestral and emotional content. As in many of her other pieces, the ensemble needs to have a strong sense of pulse, without losing the organic nature of weightlessness and fluidity for the listener.
PAN M 360: Why is this program being presented at the Music Multimedia Room (MMR), renowned for its acoustic and multimedia virtues?
Isabelle Bozzini: We associate the MMR with electro music, with the live@CIRMMT events among others, but we mustn’t forget that it was originally a recording studio with extraordinary acoustic qualities. This is the first time we’ll be playing live there, and I can’t wait! Of course, the choice of concert venues also depends on calendar availability and the artists’ schedules.
Photo credit: Kristian Trana
